For years, the party placing a telephone call (the "calling party") has been primarily responsible for initiating the pulses, tones or other signaling codes that cause telephone network equipment, such as switches, to route the calling party's call through a telephone network to a desired destination. In other words, signaling control has rested in the hands of the calling party. To date, the only exception to this rule has been a telephone operator (or, synonymously, "attendant"), who has been allowed to exert unique signaling control over the calling party's call by virtue of special signaling connections between the attendant and the telephone equipment.
It is best to convey this traditional relationship by way of example. A calling party wishing to place a call must first take a telephone instrument off-hook. The calling party must then dial or press digits corresponding to the destination number ("DTN") desired, thereby causing the telephone instrument to generate pulses or tones ("control signals") to direct the telephone equipment to place the call through the network. If any further digits are required to complete the call, the calling party has been responsible for supplying the digits when prompted.
If the calling party does not know the DTN (and therefore requires directory assistance) or needs other help (such as conferencing or international access), the calling party has been required to call the telephone operator to employ the operator's assistance to find the DTN or complete the call. Again, the operator's special signaling connections with the telephone equipment have given the operator the signaling control required to perform these functions.
While this arrangement has been suitable in the past, it has become particularly disadvantageous in today's telephony world. First, the telephone network itself has become vastly more complicated. As computer systems have been integrated into the network, calling parties have found themselves entering digits to navigate through menus, traverse private branch exchanges ("PBXs"), place their own international calls or access new services, such as electronic banking by phone or voice mailboxes. Today's telephone calls often resemble a computer session more than they do a person-to-person conversation.
Second, it is becoming apparent that large, centralized attendant centers staffed with banks of attendants are expensive to operate. Of course, such centers have been necessary in the past, because they required special signaling connections with, and therefore proximity to, the telephone equipment. However, it would be advantageous to provide the same or better level of customer service by means of a more economical alternative.
Third, some parties are more experienced, better located or better equipped than others to perform signaling functions. For instance, a calling party may wish to participate in, and pay for, a conference call, but has no idea how to generate the control signals to establish one. Apart from enlisting an attendant (at some cost), the calling party currently has no alternative but to muddle through the conferencing procedure personally.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a way of eliminating the need for the special signaling connections that are currently required to allow a party other than the calling party to control the signaling for the calling party's call.